


Happy Campers

by unenchantingly



Series: Heliophilia [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Daughter of Apollo!Reader, F/M, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Pre-Relationship, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:28:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26976613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unenchantingly/pseuds/unenchantingly
Summary: “Well, we’ve got some good news and some bad news,” Connor said, grabbing you by the arm and pulling you towards Half-Blood Hill, where the action was.“My stuff!” you protested. Your baggage was still at the entrance of the camp.“Not important.” Travis replied, “If you haven’t noticed yet, we are under attack.”You rolled your eyes at the sarcasm in his tone.“That’s the bad news,” Connor added.---Alternatively: you return to camp for the summer and you're given a new nickname.
Relationships: Percy Jackson/Reader
Series: Heliophilia [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1959973
Comments: 2
Kudos: 49





	Happy Campers

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! You have stumbled about a story with an overarching plot following a daughter of Apollo and the trials and tribulations she faces. It will start in Percy Jackson and The Olympians and continue into Heroes of Olympus. It is a Percy Jackson/Reader fanfic. Comments and constructive criticism are very much welcome!
> 
> The characters and the plotline of the books are not mine and belong to their respective owners. The story is mine, however, as is the character of 'the reader'. Please do not publish this story elsewhere without asking for my permission.

You had never been particularly good with a sword. When you came to Camp Half-Blood and had your first sword-fighting lesson, you were probably the worst one in the instruction group. That was how Connor Stoll had ruled out Ares being your godly parent (“She doesn’t need to be innately good at fighting to be an Ares kid,” Travis Stoll had protested, “She’s got that feisty ‘child of the war god’ spirit”). Granted, you were only nine years old, so your terrible swordsmanship could easily be attributed to that.

Since you arrived at Camp Half-Blood at the age of nine, you had gone back and forth from Camp Half-Blood to your home, where your mother and stepfamily lived. You never really got along with your stepfamily. Your step-father was nice enough, but he definitely favored his son Theo over you, which was not such a surprise as you weren’t your step-father’s biological daughter, after all. He was never mean to you, but you could tell that he was scared of you – which did not exactly scream friendliness and familial love. Theo, on the other hand, _was_ mean to you. He thought you were weird, and he constantly called you crazy for seeing monsters. Your mother used to tell you that he was just jealous because you had always been stronger than him and he did not like being outdone by a girl. That always made you laugh.

Returning to Camp Half-Blood after a year of pretending to be a normal human had always been a happy occasion. However, that was not the case when you returned after finishing the seventh grade. Upon arrival, and after saying goodbye to your step-father (who had been kind enough to drop you off at the entrance of camp) you had immediately been greeted by the shouting of Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares, who was ordering a group of demigods to form a line. You were confused. Did you just come to camp in the middle of a game of capture the flag?

You heard someone call your name. Turning, you were met with two grinning boys – who seemed awfully chipper in spite of the screaming chaos going on in the background. Connor and Travis Stoll. “So. . . what did I miss?” you asked casually, and eyebrow raised to show your confusion.

The Stoll brothers had been your first friends at Camp Half-Blood, as you spent quite a long time in Cabin Eleven before Apollo finally decided to claim you. They sort of became your brothers – or rather they had adopted you into their little family. You spent more time with them than you did with your own siblings, with the exception of Michael Yew, of course. He had always been your favorite brother.

“Well, we’ve got some good news and some bad news,” Connor said, grabbing you by the arm and pulling you towards Half-Blood Hill, where the action was.

“My stuff!” you protested. Your baggage was still at the entrance of the camp.

“Not important.” Travis replied, “If you haven’t noticed yet, we are under attack.”

You rolled your eyes at the sarcasm in his tone.

“That’s the bad news,” Connor added.

When you reached the top of the hill, you took a moment to take in the chaos. There were two mechanical bulls terrorizing campers. Clarisse seemed to be leading the charge, cursing in ancient Greek as campers ran around with their headgear up in flames. “I can see that. What’s the good news then?” you asked, a frown on your lips.

Connor and Travis grinned widely at you, “We’ve been made Head Counselors,” the two brothers boasted proudly.

You were not really sure about that being qualified as ‘good news’, but you have more pressing issues to worry about.

“Hey losers!” Clarisse shouted at the three of you, “Don’t just stand there! Make yourselves useful.” she ordered, before charging at one of the bulls again.

Instinctively, you grabbed for your bow, but then you realized that it was still at the foot of the hill with the rest of your stuff. You cursed in ancient Greek. “My bow is still at the camp entrance,” you groaned. You were weaponless.

Travis bent down and picked up a sword that one of the campers had lost while running around trying not to catch fire. “Here,” he said, before he threw it to you, and headed over to one of his half-siblings, whose helmet had unfortunately caught fire. Connor winked at you, before joining his older brother.

You looked at the sword for a moment, a sigh escaping your lips. Despite your training with Percy, you still were not a good sword-fighter. You were decent, which is stating it mildly. You did not really have time to linger on your unfortunate weapon situation, though, as one of the bulls charged your way. Instinctively, you rolled to the side, the bull’s horn missing you by an inch. The mechanical monster swerved and got ready to charge once more. The blade felt heavy in your hand, but you held onto the hilt tightly, getting ready to strike.

It charged with a roar.

You stood your ground, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. You hesitated for a moment, before jumping to the side at the last minute, swinging the large sword into the bull’s flank. You had mustered all your strength to even raise the blade, and now it was stuck in the mechanical bull, fire-spewing from where you had hit the monster.

Instantly releasing the sword as you felt the heat of the fire, you rolled to the side, narrowing your eyes at the bull who now had your sword sticking out of his flank. _Great_. _Weaponless again_.

“I think you lost this,” a familiar voice spoke from behind you.

You turned, and grinned, recognizing the voice instantly. There stood Percy Jackson, holding your golden bow and quiver with a large grin on his lips, his eyes anxious for battle. You took your weapon from his hands and instantly set your arrow in place, a smirk painted on your lips. You were glad you did not have to get in close with the bull anymore. Ranged combat had always been your preference. “A lovely welcome, isn’t it?” you said, sarcastically, as Percy helped you up. You hissed in pain the moment you stood on your feet. You had not even noticed the large gash on your leg. Must have been the adrenaline of battle.

“It’s a party,” Percy replied, before looking down at your leg. “Are you okay?”

You nodded. “It’s just a scratch. Now, how about you stab, I shoot?” you proposed, nodding your head to Ugly Bull Number One who had set its sights on Clarisse.

Percy grinned, before uncapping riptide and charging into battle. You aimed at the bull one, an arrow flying straight into its mechanical eye as Percy dragged Clarisse away from the monster, right before she could be trampled. Of course, the daughter of Ares did not take kindly to Clarisse rescuing him.

The rest happened pretty quickly. As you rapidly fired on whichever bull came in your sight, Clarisse charged at Ugly Bull Number Two, impaling it through the back leg with her spear. It started to malfunction and jerked around. Its head kept trashing back and forth, each movement taking longer than the last, revealing a vulnerable spot in the neck of the bull where you could see the circuit board. Taking a deep breath, you drew your bow, and counted to three, before letting the arrow fly. As it hit the circuit board, Ugly Bull Number Two gave one last jerk, before collapsing with a large thud.

Searching for Ugly Bull Number One, you spotted the mechanical monster lying motionless behind Percy and Annabeth. Noticing that Percy had been wounded, you jogged over to him, as Annabeth fed him some nectar. “That was some nice bullfighting.” you complimented, causing Percy to laugh, and his in pain immediately after.

Before you could say anything else, Clarisse marched over, fuming with anger, “You - ruin - everything!” she yelled at Percy, causing him to stare at her with wide eyes. “I had it under control.”

You decided to intervene before Percy said something that might make Clarisse even more furious – and you were certain Percy could manage that. “Come on Clarisse, we’ve got wounded campers to look after,” you said, placing your hands on her shoulders and steered her away from the son of the Sea God. She shook your hands off of her shoulders and stomped towards her wounded soldiers.

Percy stared at you with a look on his face that said, _how can you handle Clarisse like that without her beating you into a pulp?_

You winked at him, before following the daughter of Ares to help her tend to the wounded campers as he continued to stare at you for a moment, before turning his attention on Annabeth and the mysterious third companion they had brought with them to camp. 

———————————

Whereas Camp Half-Blood used to be your happy place, it started getting less and less happy. After you helped your siblings take care of the wounded (though you mainly just assisted as you had earned the reputation of being the worst healer in the Apollo Cabin), you learned that Thalia’s tree had been poisoned, which was causing the camp boundaries to become weaker. On top of that, Mr. D had blamed Chiron for the poisoning of Thalia and fired him. He was replaced with a strange and creepy guy named Tantalus, who apparently had come from the Fields of Punishment (and you did not have a good feeling about the new activities director). Argus, the one hundred-eyed giant who acted as Camp Half-Blood security guard, was also fired. Oh, and Percy had a new half-brother – Tyson the Cyclops.

Despite the imminent danger of Thalia’s tree dying, camp activities continued as if nothing happened. Creepy camp activities director Tantalus had announced that the chariot races would be reinstituted, causing much excitement among the cabins. You were not too interested to join in the race. Perhaps if Percy had asked you to help him with her chariot, you would have been more interested. Alas, he had asked Annabeth to help him – which made sense considering Athena and Poseidon had cooperated on the first chariot, after all. When they got into an argument, Percy had asked Tyson to help him, which you could not be too upset about. It was good that Percy was doing more with his brother. You hoped it would help him feel less lonely.

Due to his lack of popularity with Ares’ cabin and the argument he had with the daughter of Athena, Percy had decided to work out in the arena with Apollo’s cabin. After he trashed your siblings, you and Percy went on with your one-on-one training.

“You’ve been getting better.” Percy complimented, despite the fact that he had managed to disarm you again. Only this time, it took significantly longer, and you had managed to get in a few blows of your own.

You grinned proudly, “Oh, yes I am. Didn’t you see the sword sticking out of the Ugly Mechanical Cow?”

Percy raised his eyebrows, impressed, “That was you?” When you nodded, he whistled appreciatively, “Nicely done.”

A mischievous look spread across your face, “My sword fighting is definitely better than your archery,” you teased. Though Percy had also improved, it was safe to say that your swordplay skills were improving a lot quicker than his archery skills.

“Don’t be so confident, _sunshine_. We can’t all have magically enhanced perfect aim.” Percy countered, equally mischievous.

Eyebrows raised, you stared at him for a moment, then rolled your eyes with an amused look on your face. “That is the most unoriginal name you can give a child of Apollo.”

Percy shrugged, “So?”

“I mean there are so many creative nicknames you could go with; like Robin Hood, Legolas, or even Goldenboy – “

“But you’re a girl,“ Percy interrupted, laughing. “I don’t know. I think _sunshine_ is a pretty fitting nickname for you.”

You stuck out your tongue at him, before walking over to the armory to put away the sword you had borrowed, and returning to Percy with two bottles of water. You handed him a bottle before you started to drink from your own.

Percy did not drink though. He looked thoughtful. “Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot,” you said, closing the lid of your water bottle. You did not realize that you have made a pretty good archery pun. Percy did not seem to notice. You figured something must have been seriously wrong if he did not laugh at your stupid pun.

Percy hesitated, you could tell. “Do you ever feel. . .” he trailed off, searching for the right word, “. . . _resentment_ towards your father?”

The way he said resentment made you feel like he actually meant to say something else, and that he was putting things lightly. You had a feeling Percy was not all too happy that Poseidon had decided to give him a Cyclops as a brother. “Yeah, of course.” 

You were a bit taken aback, and Percy noticed as he immediately became interested in cleaning his blade. You hesitated for a moment, wondering if you should open up to him. You wanted to make him feel better, but you were not sure if you were ready to share your story. Looking at Percy for a moment, you felt completely at ease.

“Just before I came to Camp Half-Blood,” you started, immediately getting Percy’s attention, “my mom. . . . she fell ill. My stepdad’s a doctor, but he could not figure out what it was. My mom’s a nurse, and she told me that her illness wasn’t something that could be solved with modern medicine. I did not understand what she meant at the time, but when I learned I was the daughter of a Greek God, I started putting two-and-two together.”

“It’s a magical illness of some sort?” Percy guessed.

“That was my thought as well. When my father finally claimed me – and I never really understood why it had taken him a full month to claim me, but that’s a whole other story – I was excited. My father is the God of Medicine. You’d think he’d be able to heal my mother. She’s still ill, though, and she’s not getting better. I have never really told anyone this, but I pray to my father every day to heal my mother, but to no avail. . .”

Percy did not say anything, and for a moment you were worried that you had overshared. Then, Percy took a step forward and pulled you into a hug. The two of you did not say anything, but the comfort of the hug was enough.

Pulling away, you smiled at him, “Thank you. I needed that. Resentment is certainly there. I think everyone has a certain resentment towards their godly parent.”

Percy nodded, a thoughtful look on his face once again.

“You’re thinking about Luke, aren’t you?” you asked, and Percy nodded slowly. “That’s an extreme case. I mean, sure, I’m angry at my dad for not being there for me, you know? But I don’t _hate_ him. It’s different for demigods. We don’t have a normal family dynamic. Most of us have just accepted it. Luke didn’t. Instead of focusing on the positives, such as the friends he made here at camp, he lingered on the hatred he felt towards his dad.”

“And Kronos used that,” Percy added, frowning.

You nodded, feeling slightly uncomfortable that Percy had decided to use the Titan Lord’s name. After all, names had power. You did not really know what to say after that, so you stood in silence for a few moments. Noticing the somber look on Percy’s face, you gently bumped your shoulder with his. “Come on, water boy. I bet I can climb the lava wall faster than you.” 

“Oh, you’re on, sunshine.”

And you were off, racing towards the climbing wall, laughing as you tried to trip each other.

**Author's Note:**

>  **Timeline** : Sea of Monsters.  
>  **Reader** : Thirteen years old.  
>  **Percy** : Thirteen years old.  
> 


End file.
